Economic and Social Justice (12)

Congresswomen Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) and Katherine Clark (MA-05) today introduced the Tip Income Protection (TIP) Act, legislation to protect tipped workers from having their tips taken by their employers.

What mattered was that he showed up — that he put himself in front of the people whose opinions on the arcana of U.S. fiscal policy would have a direct and immediate impact on his weakening body. The point was for them to see his frailties, hear the catches in his voice and the kludginess of his diction.

A federal judge issued an injunction against President Barack Obama’s new overtime rule Tuesday, a major setback that delays one of the president’s significant reforms from going into effect next week as planned.

Clergy join with low wage workers to call for $15 minimum wage and declare firm opposition to 'systemic racism, classism, poverty, xenophobia, and any attempt to promote hate towards any members of the human family.'

It is useful to develop a common understanding of the factors affecting job creation in our economy. The idea that a full employment economy is possible in not new. For instance, this goal is stated in Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: I quote: “Everyone has the right to work, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.”

When the Bernie Sanders campaign announced plans to visit the Vatican, more than one journalist asked me for comment on the oddity of a progressive candidate seeking to associate himself with an institution whose views are antithetical to much of what he espouses. This, I believe, is a fundamental misunderstanding of how the majority of Catholics in America view the role of their faith in their political and civic life. Call it the Pope Francis effect. It is real and, because Catholics are the preeminent swing voters, it will matter a great deal.

Nearly seven years after the end of the deepest recession in our lifetimes, the job market has in many ways returned to pre-recession levels. And yet there are far more people seeking work than jobs available. Unemployment and underemployment persist in many communities where the recovery lags. And some workers are left out even in the best of times.

The enormous wealth disparity between the top 1% and the rest of America is an unsustainable economic and social injustice. We are committed to an economic recovery that employs all those willing and able, that houses all those needing shelter, and that imposes the cost based on the ability to pay.